Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock - Activity For Preschoolers

We pulled this activity from Let's Try It Out With Towers and Bridges, a Hands-On Early-Learning Science Activity book by Seymore Simon, and Nicole Fauteux. I hope to post more about this terrific series, later in the week. But, as we were learning about the importance of a strong foundation, for buildings, using play dough, and straws, I couldn't help but think of the parable of the wise man, who built his house on the rock, and the foolish man, who built on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27).

First we set up a tower. In our case it was three toilet paper tubes, that had been taped together for a telescope, some time before.

Just the tiniest breeze could knock it over, like a tree with no roots.

Once it was planted into a lump of play dough, even a much stronger wind couldn't knock it down.

Then we tried building a tower with straws, and play dough, again with a strong foundation.

When the storm came, it stood solid.

But when we took the foundation away...

...and our "foolish man's house went SPLAT!" Then, of course, we had to sing the song. Don't know the wise man/foolish man song? You can find the complete lyrics here, and listen to the first verse, and chorus, here.

And, you can find a printable coloring page, to go along with the lesson, here.

6 comments:

This is a great activity. We have a game that requires you to build a pyramid (the game is called Zimbbos) and I have been trying to explain to R that you have to build a foundation so choose your pieces wisely, but it hasn't sunk in. I think I will try this activity with her!

About Me

I'm a homeschool mom of six. My family has been homeschooling for about fourteen years. And, each year, we've learned a little more about having fun, and spending less, while learning more. It's great to be a homeschooler!

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I'm very happy to share ideas, and thoughts with you. I try to give credit to others when they inspire, or add instructions to a project, and ask that you do the same for me. You may copy ideas and pictures from this blog as long as you give credit and link back to the original post. Thanks

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